The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Iowa overcomes struggles to win in Clark’s home finale
Caitlin Clark raised her arms as she walked across the court, pumped her fists and made a heart with her hands as she bid farewell to her legion of adoring fans who came to see her play one last time at Carver-hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Monday night.
The clock had just hit zeroes on No. 1 seed Iowa’s hard-earned 6454 win over No. 8 West Virginia in the women’s NCAA Tournament, and she wanted to thank the fans. “I’m forever grateful,” she said. The Hawkeyes will head to Albany, New York, to continue their bid to reach the championship game for a second straight year. No matter what happens the rest of the way, Clark will be remembered as the most beloved, if not the greatest, athlete to come out of the state that also produced Dan Gable, Bob Feller and Nile Kinnick.
“I’m very grateful that I got to play in an environment that supports women’s athletics the way that they do, not only women’s basketball — and to be honest, they’ve been doing this before I ever stepped on campus,” Clark said. “Maybe it wasn’t quite at the magnitude it is now, but these people and these fans have showed up, and they’ll continue to show up.”
Clark, the NCAA Division I all-time scoring leader, scored 32 points to lead Iowa (31-4), which survived one of its worst offensive performances of the season to advance to play No. 5 seed Colorado on Saturday in the Sweet 16.
West Virginia opened the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run to tie the game with 5:18 to play in regulation.
Sydney Affolter’s three-point play with 2:03 left, the Hawkeyes’ lone field goal of the fourth quarter, gave Iowa a 55-52 lead. Clark and Hannah Stuelke closed the game with nine free throws to clinch the win.
The Hawkeyes were 14 of 17 from the foul line in the final quarter while the Mountaineers took just one free throw.
“I think we used our crowd,” Clark said of the final stretch. “We gave up a 10-0 run to start the quarter, but this team was never flustered. It speaks to our experience . ... Wanted to go out on a high note.”
Clark hit two free throws near the end of the game to break the single-season NCAA Division I scoring record of 1,109 held by Kelsey Plum.
JJ Quinerly led West Virginia (25-8) with 15 points.
Albany 1 Regional
INDIANA 75, OKLAHOMA 68 >> Mackenzie Holmes scored 29 points, including six in a row, to give the host fourth-seeded Hoosiers a late lead as they rallied past the fifth-seeded Sooners. Sydney Parrish added 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Indiana (26-6), which advanced to its second Sweet 16 in three years and now faces undefeated No. 1 overall seed South Carolina on Friday in Albany, N.Y. Big 12 Player of the Year Skylar Vann had 20 points and eight rebounds for Oklahoma (23-10).
Portland 3 Regional
UCONN 72, SYRACUSE 64 >> Paige Bueckers tied her season high with 32 points, freshman Ashlynn Shade added 19 and the third-seeded Huskies held off the visiting sixth-seeded Orange to earn a 30th straight trip to the Sweet 16. Uconn (31-5) will face Duke on Saturday in Portland. Dyaisha Fair scored 18 of her 20 points in the second half as Syracuse came back from a 12-point first-half deficit to pull within two with just under two minutes left. The Orange (24-8) missed four 3-point tries down the stretch and Uconn scored seven of the game’s final eight points.
Portland 4 Regional
GONZAGA 77, UTAH 66 >> Kayleigh Truong scored 21 points, Yvonne Ejim added 17 points and 13 rebounds, and the fourth-seeded Bulldogs advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in nearly a decade beating the No. 5-seeded Utes in Spokane. Gonzaga (323) won its 36th straight game at home and will face top-seeded Texas in the Portland 4 Regional semifinal on Friday. Alissa Pili led Utah (23-11) with 35 points in her final game for the Utes.